Taken their Golden from Excessive Greeting Disorder to Therapy Dog?
I never even tried to get my last dog certified because she was always SO excited when she met people, jumped up almost her whole life despite all my best efforts, even though she also had incredible instincts to be calm around older, frail adults, or little kids.
I am seeing the same with my current girl, Shala. She is always very excited when meeting able bodied adults, though, for the most part, she doesn't jump anymore. She does full body wags, and sits and leans in (she also does that "smile" thing where she shows her teeth, which some people are startled by until I explain it). But when she meets someone more frail, or at all vulnerable, she melts into a big softy, usually flipping over on her back for belly rubs, but almost always lying down. And we had an interesting experience at the splash pad the other day - I always ask before I let Shala get her paws wet and get a drink, and I keep her on leash. She normally just watches the little kids playing around her. But this day, a little girl about 2 years old came toddling up to her and started to pat her (very gently) and was so happy when Shala gave her kisses. Shala was so calm, just stood there and let the little girl pat her all over, only gave kisses when the girl held out her hand or tried to kiss Shala's nose. When the little girl's mother came over, and started to "oooh and aww, she's so sweet!" Shala got all excited and I had to make sure she didn't knock the little girl down! The mother knew immediately it was her causing it and backed off, and Shala went back to being all calm with her daughter. I really appreciated that she realized it was her, and I found it very interesting to see the difference in Shala's behaviour.
All this leads me to still wonder if Shala could ever pass the therapy dog evaluation with an able bodied adult, while I KNOW she would be great working with the elderly or very young. Any tips or experiences? Would love to hear.
I never even tried to get my last dog certified because she was always SO excited when she met people, jumped up almost her whole life despite all my best efforts, even though she also had incredible instincts to be calm around older, frail adults, or little kids.
I am seeing the same with my current girl, Shala. She is always very excited when meeting able bodied adults, though, for the most part, she doesn't jump anymore. She does full body wags, and sits and leans in (she also does that "smile" thing where she shows her teeth, which some people are startled by until I explain it). But when she meets someone more frail, or at all vulnerable, she melts into a big softy, usually flipping over on her back for belly rubs, but almost always lying down. And we had an interesting experience at the splash pad the other day - I always ask before I let Shala get her paws wet and get a drink, and I keep her on leash. She normally just watches the little kids playing around her. But this day, a little girl about 2 years old came toddling up to her and started to pat her (very gently) and was so happy when Shala gave her kisses. Shala was so calm, just stood there and let the little girl pat her all over, only gave kisses when the girl held out her hand or tried to kiss Shala's nose. When the little girl's mother came over, and started to "oooh and aww, she's so sweet!" Shala got all excited and I had to make sure she didn't knock the little girl down! The mother knew immediately it was her causing it and backed off, and Shala went back to being all calm with her daughter. I really appreciated that she realized it was her, and I found it very interesting to see the difference in Shala's behaviour.
All this leads me to still wonder if Shala could ever pass the therapy dog evaluation with an able bodied adult, while I KNOW she would be great working with the elderly or very young. Any tips or experiences? Would love to hear.